Why Piranha Bytes Dumped JoWooD @Eurogamer

by Gorath, 2011-05-06 15:56:44

Internet drama time! Eurogamer interviewedGothic 3 developer Piranha Bytes not only about their upcoming Risen 2 (see newsbit from 12 hours ago) but also about their acrimonious divorce from former publisher JoWooD back in 2007. Other topics are the Gothic rights and, briefly, ArcaniA.

Here's a quote:

"The problem was - to cut a long story short - there were a couple of differences in opinion between the publisher and us," said Piranha Bytes co-founder Michael Hoge. "And the whole thing collapsed when the publisher forced us to release Gothic 3 while it was not ready."

"To be fair, if we had finished it in the time that we promised, it would have been fine. But as it was, the development took longer on the project, and instead of trying to find a solution with us - how to get this right - they just wanted to release it. It was because of their stock market orientation, I think. So we decided to go separate ways then."